- July 5th, 2011, Fullerton, California.
(screams) (somber music)
Kelly Thomas, a homeless man, is beaten,
clubbed and tased by the police.
He dies five days later in the hospital.
When security footage of the incident is released the next
year, it sparks national outrage.
Thomas had schizophrenia and he was looking
for a place to sleep.
People with severe mental illness are 16 times more likely
to be killed during a police encounter. Is the problem that
police aren't trained well enough to handle these situations
or that they shouldn't be involved with them to begin with?
- A lot of times when people are in crisis,
the last thing they need is lights and sirens and police.
- Some U.S. cities are changing their approach.
And in many cases it's actually working.
- When I say defund, you say police, defund.
- Police.
- Defund.
- Police.
- The killing of George Floyd re-sparked a national
conversation around the role of police in American society
and what their responsibilities should actually be.
For decades police officers have been our first responders
to calls involving people in a mental health crisis.
And they usually have two options once they get there,
take someone to the ER, or take them to jail.
In fact,
20% of inmates in jail are suffering
from a serious mental illness.
- Take your knees off our necks.
- So now at this critical moment for the future of policing,
American people and governments are asking,
how can we fix this?
The resulting programs range from simple reform through
additional training,
all the way to taking police out of mental
health situations entirely.
- I have an adult son, he's 27.
He was diagnosed chronic paranoid schizophrenic.
- Janet's son, Matt frequently lives
on the streets of Denver,
where he often has interactions with the police.
- Sometimes when you talk to him, he has a delayed reaction.
So they can take that for being defiant.
Just knowing that he was out there.
and there was a potential for him to come in contact
with the police was very scary.
- At least 25% of people killed by police
have a severe mental illness.
Some research suggests that that number
could be as high as 50%.
This has led some departments to reevaluate their approaches
to these situations.
In 1988, a Memphis police officer
killed a man with a history
of mental illness and substance abuse.
community outrage ensued Memphis PD responded
by creating the country's first
crisis intervention team or CIT.
The crisis intervention team model requires that officers
receive 40 hours of training related specifically
to reducing the lethality of situations
involving a mental health crisis.
It also trains dispatchers to clearly identify these
situations and prioritize sending CIT trained
officers to respond.
The model has been adopted by around 15% of law enforcement
agencies throughout the U.S., even though its efficacy
has been hard to measure.
CIT detractors argue that 40 hours
of training can't effectively teach someone to deescalate
a mental health crisis.
And even with that training,
the presence of police alone could further alarm someone
already in a crisis.
These alleged shortcomings have led some departments
to develop programs where police officers team up
with paramedics and mental health professionals
in what is known as a co-response
In Dallas, Texas, Dr. Marshall Isaacs leads the medical
component of a new program
called Right Care that does exactly that.
- When an individual calls 911, Dallas fire rescue
dispatches the Right Care unit,
which is an unmarked police department Tahoe.
The paramedic applies a medical protocol
and then the behavioral health clinician
tries to determine if we can provide care and resources
at the scene.
And the police officer remains
to make sure that everybody's safe.
If we can better serve individuals who are having behavioral
health challenges outside of an ambulance without the use
of police car, jails, courts,
or hospital emergency departments,
then the community as a whole has succeeded.
- Right Care is still relatively new,
but has reportedly kept 28% of the people they've helped out
of jail and the ER.
However, some cities are taking it one step further
and responding to many mental health situations
without any kind of police
involvement at all.
In Eugene, Oregon,
a nonprofit called CAHOOTS has been around for 30 years.
It received national attention for its non-police response
to mental health crises.
They send out a two person team with a medic and a crisis
worker in a van.
There's no guns, badges, or police cars involved.
CAHOOTS responds to 20% of 911 calls in Eugene
and saved their medical system around $4 million in 2018.
This model has been adopted in Olympia, Washington,
and most recently, Denver, Colorado.
- Probably what I'd say is we believe in a continuum.
We are not a believer of there's one size that fits all.
The STAR response works for a whole set of people
where law enforcement response is not needed.
- Denver launched the pilot for its non-police response team
in June 2020.
And they'll run alongside co-response teams
the city already has in place.
- 50% of people in our jails right now have at least one
or two diagnosed mental health conditions.
Jail is not the answer, and in fact,
sets people back even further.
This isn't really about investment,
but it's really about doing the right thing for people,
getting them the right care at the right time
in the right way.
- Could mental health first response teams become the norm?
It's possible.
In the 1950s in several U.S. cities
police were often the first responders to medical
emergencies before we had EMTs.
So co-response teams,
which are rolling out in Dallas, Columbus, and New York,
or non-police responses, like we're seeing in Denver,
Eugene, Albuquerque, and Portland,
might eventually become the standard response
to mental health situations.
And for a mom like Janet,
having a professional team on the street who understands
her son's condition would mean a lot.
- When people see my son on the streets
and he's there for days,
he looks disheveled, he looks homeless, he's dirty.
You know, that's somebody's son.
That could be somebody's daughter.
They deserve a right to cohabitate with everybody and live
in this community like you and I,
and just don't forget that they belong to somebody.
- Thanks for watching.
For a list of organizations
supporting people like Janet's son, Matthew,
check out the description below.
For more stories on criminal justice reform,
head over to freethink.com
and check out our special: Fixing Justice.